18 January 2005

pitching the pitchless

this is mostly for matt, but i'll leave it open for other input...if you had to describe "recurrence" and "coffee stains" in that generic method of "well, it's (movie) plus (movie) plus (movie) w/ a little bit of (random other thing)" how would you do it? yeah, it's a weird question, but it's not mine.

3 comments:

"Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" plus "Master and Commander: Far Side of the World" plus the campier Batman movies (especially "Batman and Robin") plus a sprinkle of "The Sorrow and the Pity" minus Kubrick's version of "Lolita." With a little "Scarface," but the silent black and white version. Oh, and the music numbers resemble "Singing in the Rain."

Actually, I think they are two completely different styles:

Coffee Stains is more American Indie Situation-Comedy-eque, Pop Culture, Name Dropping, Quirky, Comedic Coming-of-Quarter-Age Drama, but a Romance (in the older sense). I would say it is something like High Fidelity (it kinda has a Nick Hornby repackaged for the yanks feel to it) + Seinfeld Seasons 1 & 2 + [Insert Just About Every Indie Movie Here] + maybe a tiny bit of Swingers + hints of Cohen Brothers + the Decline and Fall of the American Empire (except that I haven't seen it, so I am just guessing from what I've heard).

Recurrence I see as more European in its sensibilities: Kieslowski's Decalogue without the weight + Some of Bergman's Chamber pieces (especially Scenes) but again without much of the weight + the comedic elements of Truffaut (especially the Antoine Doinel movies) + that sort of quirky French general interconnectedness of the universe comedy + a little of the non-Madcap, Hannah and her sisters -type Woody Allen + some of the moralism of Rohmer + Robert Altman movies not based upon Cartoon Characters

on recurrence, i'll go w/ the decalogue meets scenes from a marriage meets all or nothing w/ just a hint of happenstance and arrested development. why arrested? honestly, i don't know. just a gut instinct.